Chapter 1556 - 1553: The Final Strike

Long Yijian looked surprised and raised one eyebrow, then straightforwardly agreed to Ye Qiu's request.

"Alright, I'll prevent her from leaving the family headquarters for the time being."

"Ye Qiu, no way! You can't, you can't do this—!"

Fang Wushang cried out tearfully behind Ye Qiu. But Ye Qiu did not turn back. He simply moved his right foot back slightly, lowered the sword in his right hand, and assumed his battle stance.

Long Yijian dispelled his barrier, but who knows what other tricks he might have besides the barrier.

After dismantling the barrier, Long Yijian picked up the longsword embedded in the floor and placed the Cross Shield behind him.

Ye Qiu's consciousness was extremely calm and clear. "Fang Wushang, I'm sorry..." This thought floated like bubbles in his mind and then scattered away, engulfing Ye Qiu's heart with warrior instincts, sharpening it like a blade.

To be honest, Ye Qiu wasn't quite sure how much chance he had to win. In previous duels, technically speaking, he didn't feel inferior to him.

But that was under the premise that the guy didn't use his so-called hidden powers, the kind that paralyzes while only he could move, an overpowered tactic.

It depends entirely on Long Yijian's pride. Judging by what he just said, he should be prepared to defeat him solely with the "Holy Sword" ability. In that case, only by quickly deciding the outcome before he uses any special abilities could Ye Qiu have a chance of survival.

The tension between Ye Qiu and Long Yijian gradually heightened. It seemed that even the air trembled due to their killing intent. This was no longer a duel but pure murderous combat. Indeed—he was going to kill that man—

"Kill you…!"

He sharply exhaled, simultaneously stomping on the ground.

While there was still a distance between them, his right-hand sword swung horizontally. Long Yijian easily blocked it with the shield in his left hand. Sparks flew, briefly illuminating their faces.

The impact sound of metal clashing was like a signal announcing the start of battle, and the shimmering sword shadows between them accelerated, oppressing the surrounding space.

This was the most irregular, most human-like battle Ye Qiu had experienced among countless combats so far.

Both of them had witnessed each other's moves. Plus, he knew about the Profound Celestial Ice Sword, so purely straightforward tactics would surely be deciphered by him. With this understanding, it's clear why during the duel, his moves would always get completely blocked.

Ye Qiu entirely abandoned using his original moves, relying solely on his combat instincts to keep swinging the sword in his hand. Naturally, this couldn't achieve the best attack speed, but by pushing his senses to the limit, his arms easily exceeded the usual sword-swinging speed. Even his eyes could see several, even dozens of swords in his hand due to the afterimages. However—

Long Yijian deflected Ye Qiu's attacks with astonishing accuracy. And whenever Ye Qiu had even a momentary opening in his attacks, he would immediately retaliate sharply against him.

Ye Qiu could only rely on instant reaction to block. This standoff continued. In order to gather more information about the enemy's thoughts and reactions, Ye Qiu focused his consciousness on Long Yijian's eyes. This made their gazes intertwine.

But the Demon King—Long Yijian's brass-colored eyes remained utterly indifferent. The human emotions fleetingly seen in the previous duel seemed to have completely vanished now.

Suddenly, Ye Qiu felt a chill run down his spine.

The man he was facing was someone who mercilessly killed countless people. Could a normal person do such a thing? Bearing the heavy pressure of so many deaths and grievances while remaining calm—this was no longer human but a monster.

Was he originally a Magical Beast? Just with a human appearance.

"Ugh oh oh oh oh oh!"

Ye Qiu roared to banish the slight fear deep in his heart. He accelerated the movements of his hands, launching several attacks within a second, but Long Yijian's expression did not change at all. He wielded the Cross Shield and longsword at speeds almost invisible to the naked eye, precisely deflecting all of Ye Qiu's attacks.

He's simply toying with me—!

The fear in his heart gradually transformed into agitation. Was it possible that Long Yijian maintained a defensive stance because he could counterattack at any moment and had the confidence to withstand one of Ye Qiu's strikes and still survive?

Doubt began to cloud Ye Qiu's heart. To him, there was no need to use so-called hidden powers at all.

"Damn it…!"

In that case—how about this move—!

Ye Qiu switched his attack mode, executing the highest level move of the Profound Celestial Ice Sword, "Ice River Age." Like a corona, the sword tip sprayed out in all directions, striking Long Yijian twenty-seven consecutive times at high speed.

But—Long Yijian was precisely waiting for this moment, waiting for Ye Qiu to use a move from the Profound Celestial Ice Sword. A smile appeared on his lips for the first time, and this time, it was a smile of certainty that he was about to win, opposite to what had been seen earlier.

Right after launching the first few attacks, Ye Qiu realized his mistake. He had sought help from the sword instead of relying on his instinct at the last moment. It was too late to stop midway. Upon the conclusion of the attack, he would suffer instant stiffness. Long Yijian had a complete grasp of his attack from start to finish.

Seeing Long Yijian accurately predict all the sword direction, deftly moving the Cross Shield to block every attack, Ye Qiu could only silently think to himself:

Sorry—Fang Wushang… at least you must—survive—

The twenty-seventh left thrust hit the Cross Shield center, sending out a spark. Then came the sound of hard metal, and Ye Qiu's sword shattered in an instant.

"Goodbye—Ye Qiu."

Long Yijian raised the longsword high above the motionless Ye Qiu's head. The blade emitted a dark red glow. Then the sword, imbued with a bloody light, descended towards his head—

At that moment, a powerful, intense sound appeared in his mind.

Ye Qiu—let me—protect you!

With lightning speed, a figure dashed between the holy sword flashing crimson and his frozen self. Ye Qiu's eyes saw black hair flying in the air.

Fang Wushang—why—!

She should have been immobilized due to the paralysis just caused, yet she stood before him. She bravely squared her shoulders and spread her arms wide. A look of astonishment appeared on Long Yijian's face as well. But no one could stop the descending slash anymore. Everything unfolded slowly like in slow motion; the longsword sliced from Fang Wushang's shoulder down to her chest, then halted.